The Miracle Worker
I can be described by many roles…daughter, wife, mother, gardener, speaker, UMass alum, etc. But, despite what you may like to believe, I am not a miracle worker. It is a role I have never felt comfortable taking on.
As a garden designer I have clients that come to me to change their landscape. I love the process. We sit down, talk about needs, function, do a site survey and then I get to attack the project. From the beginning however I make sure my clients have realistic expectations. I am NOT a miracle worker.
For a client with a roof deck on the 7th floor, yes I can make it a beautiful welcoming oasis –
but I cannot make the wind go away.
I can design structures that will help abate the wind but to stop it entirely is truly a miracle (read Mark 4:39). I cannot do that.
Another client was unhappy about the hot sun coming in through the kitchen slider to the roof deck. As previously mentioned I am not a miracle worker, so the sun would have to stay. I could, however, plant a birch in a large container that, during the summer, would shade the door.
One client wanted more color in her SHADY garden. I explained that there were fewer flowering options for shade and we could make a beautiful garden by focusing more on foliage. But she wanted flowers AND color so we used all the ones I could think of – astilbe, aconitum, ligularia, ajuga, doronicum, etc. It was not enough color. So we planted bulbs that could bloom before the trees leafed out – crocus and daffodils. It was still not enough color. So we incorporated colorful annuals – impatiens, begonias, and one of my favorites – coleus. Still not enough color. (At this point I was seriously considering silk flowers). She showed me pictures of large gardens filled with all kinds of meadow flowers. I explained that those plants would need more SUN which she did not have. She thought I could work miracles and while her garden was the most colorful shade garden I have ever installed,
I think it fell short of her vision. I am not a miracle worker and short of convincing her neighbor to cut down the enormous pine tree that was sucking up all the sunlight there was nothing I could do.
It’s good to have a design dream – I get that. But make sure your vision is based on the realities of your site. We landscape designers do our best and sometimes it may seem we do the impossible.
But we cannot work miracles.
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